French startup Wonder.legal launches in Australia to provide businesses and individuals with templated legal documents

Many of us have likely, at some point, wanted to send a noisy neighbour a sternly-worded letter from a lawyer urging them to keep quiet or face the consequences, only to realise that the half an hour it would take a lawyer to write that letter would probably cost what you make in a day.

Of course, the internet has a solution in the form of templated legal documents, which a range of platforms make available either for free or a small fee.

One such platform is Wonder.Legal, a software platform looking to streamline the process of drafting legal documents. With documents for both individuals and startups, the platform works by having a user select a template and then answering questions to fill it in.

Founded by Jeremie Eskenazi in France in 2014, the platform was inspired by his work on Miratech, a user experience consulting firm he launched in 2005. Here he created a platform to assist in generating client proposals.

Applying the same sort of idea to Wonder.legal, the platform has expanded to over 10 countries, recently entering Australia.

“Australia is very advanced in online services, so it was firmly in our top 10 target countries,” Eskenazi said.

There are 30 templates, drafted by lawyers, available for use in Australia.

For businesses these include business sale agreements, commercial lease agreements, and a trademark infringement cease and desist letter, while for individuals available templates include a travel consent form, letter to complain about an insurer’s rejection or delay of claim, and a private parking fine appeal letter.

“Our content database is increasing continuously and we plan to have up to 200 forms that cover a range of uses, focusing on both individual and corporate law needs,” Eskenazi said.

Eskenazi said Wonder.legal doesn’t have a specific target market in mind; rather, he said, “Anyone who needs a document can use Wonder.Legal, from your grandmother to a seasoned lawyer”.

On that note, the pricing also aims to be accessible, and Eskenazi said it’s determined by “an AI program that adjusts our prices based on demand”. Depending on the document, the price could range from $1.99 to $49.99, with an average of around $16.

The startup urges users to have documents reviewed by a lawyer should they feel the need, stating on its website, “We are not a substitute for a lawyer; rather, we offer a technical solution for creating documents. We do not give legal advice and we do not tell you which document to choose or how to complete it.”

While CorrsEdge, for example, offers users access to templated documents across an early-stage company’s lifecycle, from set up to acquisition, it also stresses that users can have access to specialist lawyers to help them through filling out the documents and reviewing them.

LegalVision too offers documents, as well as a specialised fixed-price legal services for startups, while LawPath offers a range of business and personal documents and a fixed-price services.

While these offerings and others have been out in the local market for some time, Eskenazi said he doesn’t see Wonder.legal having much to go up against yet down under.

“We didn’t find much competition in Australia compared to other countries, like the US. But competition will inevitably rise and we are certain to always be faster, cheaper, and offer better legal documents and services,” he said.

Beyond growing in Australia, Eskenazi said his goals looking ahead to the next few months are to “expand continuously”.